Two Minutes
by Josh14Raider
Summary: Lara Croft is chasing down two goons in a tomb who are after a valuable chest worth millions to sell. Knowing the secrets behind the chest, she must quickly catch up with them before they can reach the chest, and unleash what is hidden within!


**Tomb Raider: Two Minutes**

Disclamer: I do not own Lara Croft or Kurtis Trent; they belong to their respectable owners. This is just for entertainment reading.

Going into the Tomb of Misfortunate, Lara Croft found herself staring at the face of death. Though it was uninviting, she entered through the entrance, with one pistol in each of her hands. She heard voices coming from deep within, and followed the trail. Darkness could not escape from the lost underground tomb, and already Lara was blinded. Relying on her sense of smell and hearing for getting a feel of her environment, she'd furthermore stepped onwards...

"Yes, we're going to be rich!" Charles excitedly said, as I looked over to his direction. I can't believe that he was planning to sell this invaluable chest away to the highest bidder. But little does he know that he won't get out of this tomb alive!

"Shall we move on Charles?" My best mate Jack had asked me. Of course by this time, we had already searched in my estimation about 75% of this ruin. I trust him with my life, and if there was only one person who I would reach out to, he was standing right next to me. I couldn't believe my eyes when I gazed upon the treasure! Me and Jack are going to be walking out of here multi-millionaires!

A quick dash here and a roll there, Lara was now not far off from her objective.

"Not long now Lara" A voice spoke in my left ear. I looked over with a smile to my companion on this short journey. I met her only a few days ago, but already, I can relate to her as a long lost friend. She was a native here, and since she knew the layout of the tomb complex very well, she'd promised that she would show me the way, and in return I guaranteed her safety. For what laid ahead, was not for humanity to discover!

"Yes Ayesha, we'll soon catch those crooks" Lara assured her new friend. Unfortunately, as both progressed through the darkness of the tomb, Lara's vision became blurred and she began to see stars, and memorable objects floating around in mid-air!

"Ayesha...I'm hallucinating!" Lara exclaimed to her friend, and Ayesha stopped Lara in her tracks.

"I knew this might happen, Lara...one of the tomb's ancient traps is spores, which particularly react to a certain blood type. From what I can remember being told as a child, overtime the person would feel unbearable pain soon after the visions, and would then only have...Two minutes to live! We must hurry Lara!"A rushed Ayesha explained to Lara. She grabbed hold of Lara's left hand, and pulled her straight on.

"What we going to do with our riches mate?" Charles irritatedly asked me. I had wished already that i put him out of his misery, but I do require him for the next challenge. Once his usefulness is done, only then can I finally put a bullet into his head. But for now...patience is a virtue.

"Dunno mate, but tell you what we should do when we return home with the cash, introduce ourselves to the upper classes!" Jack joked. Our laughs echoed through the tombs hollow walls, and I couldn't wait to get back home. It wouldn't be long now till we have completed the deed, and with our payout, our heads can be held high. Just one more obstacle to go through now...

"Come on Lara!" Ayesha reassured her, Lara tugged on, not knowing how far they had gotten. The next trap was up ahead, but thankfully it had already been activated by the two goons. However, they still had to avoid its spiky massacre that had claimed many unknown lives over the years. Getting round it would be easy, but since Lara was ever becoming in an unstable state, both would have to be careful, yet speedily.

"Right on the count of three..." Jack ordered. I was holding onto one switch to one side, while he held onto the other.

"One..." Charles annoyingly said.

"Two..." Jack looked over at me, this was it!

"THREE!" They both said at the same time, pulling on their respectable switches...

BANG! A bullet had come shooting out of Jack's revolver and directly pierced into Charles' chest. Instantly he fell onto the floor from the impact, shocked and within a spur of unexpected deadly surprise.

"But...Why?" Charles coughed out, waiting for the response of his ex-best friend's betrayal.

"Oh, please spare me. Did you really think that I, Jack Roper would have someone like you sharing the grand prize that lies ahead? I think not, your lack of knowledge and desire for just pitiful money has been your downfall ever since we got the tip off, to be honest, I can't believe that I have managed to put up with you at all!" Jack aggressively spoke out.

"But...We've been...mates...since...our childhoods" a saddened expression filled Charles face.

"Ha-ha! Codswallop! I lost my friendship with you years ago, during all this time I've been using you, and you've played the part very well unknowingly. Now I'm afraid your usefulness has come to an end, once I enter this room, it will all be over! Any last words before I depart, and leave you to rot" Jack smirked to his dying colleague.

"Curse you!" Charles spat at the footing of Jack. He began to feel cold and continually struggling to breathe, now knowing his life would end in a few minutes.

"Humph...I expected more..." Jack laughed off, and he proceeded through the previously shut off doorway.

The further Lara delved into the tomb with Ayesha, the worst she felt, but they couldn't give up now being so close. Lara suddenly gave out a yelp of pain, with Ayesha now acknowledging that the spores have now started to attack her immune system. Lara tried to hold back, but Ayesha was having none of it, she believed they still had time to stop the duo.

"Please Lara, we have to stop them before they cause havoc to the world!" Ayesha tightly held onto Lara's palm. With pain not long taking over her, Lara agreed in agony and the two continued through. In a matter of seconds, they stumbled across a body, and to their astonishment it was one of the goons. A pool of blood had been slowly created from it coming out of his mouth, but he was still barely breathing.

"Finally...Caught...Us ...Up...I...See" The goon breathed out, gasping for air. Ayesha and Lara examined his body and looked around the area, just in case it was a trap to lure them in.

"How did this happen to you, and where's your partner?" Ayesha questioned, as Lara continuously scanned around the area, looking for clues.

"Ha...I was betrayed...I...Can't believe it...He...Is...Up...Ahead" The treasure hunter gave out his last word, before succumbing to the pain and then...silence filled the room.

"AYESHA!" Lara called out to her. Upon hearing this call, Ayesha came to Lara's side. She kneeled down, doing her best to support Lara, whom was now starting to feel the pain taking over her body.

"Ayesha...I read the inscription above...It states that whoever enters pass through that sealed passageway... and touches the mystical object that is kept there...the real monster would come out of them...we have to stop him..."Lara explained with some difficulty.

"Right Lara, let's stop him before he transforms quickly!" Ayesha confirmed with Lara, and she helped Lara up back to her feet. Doing her best to ignore the pain, Lara and Ayesha dashed through the pathway, hoping that they would get to the artefact before he does.

"At last, here it is!" Jack said, awe in wonder. The real genuine chest was staring in front of him, as the previous one was a decoy he kept as a secret from Charles. He approached it and just before he was able to open it up, he was halted right where he was.

"STOP! You don't know what you're dealing with!" Lara shouted out to him, but this didn't have any effect. He turned to look straight at both Ayesha and Lara.

"Ha, no way, I've earned this and it's my right to open and keep it!" He quickly turned away and before Lara can respond by drawing out her pistols, he unlocked the chest!

"NOOOOOO, DON'T OPEN THAT CHEST!" Ayesha and Lara yelled at the same time, but it was too late. A bright light quickly flash out of the chest, blasting Jack straight into the middle of his chest, as he breathed in the gas that escaped from the chest. Suddenly, Jack began to shake uncontrollably, laughing out loud as he began to lose his mind. Lara passed Ayesha one of her signature pistols, knowing that they both are about to engage in a tough fight. They trained the pistols upon the monstrosity that Jack was about to transform into.

"Sorry...Ladies...But...Your...Time...Will...Very Soon... END! Witness...THE...RWAR!" Out of nowhere, Jack's muscles began to expand rapidly. He turned around now facing Lara and Ayesha, who were now witnessing the grotesque transformation. His eyes had become watery vein red. While as he became further bigger, Jack began to go dark purpled skinned. Sharp horns started growing out of his head, and in a matter of seconds, his teeth had become razor sharp fangs, just like a vampire's are, only this time it was for real. All of Jack's nails had now turned into claws, and the clothes he wore had all now ripped. He continued to grow even taller and bigger, his hair now falling out, coming completely bald...What was left of Jack had now altogether disappeared.

Standing in front of both Ayesha and Lara, was a mutated unnatural mythical beast, which continuously stared at them. It now had only two instincts and objectives, to survive and to wipe out every human being on the face of the Earth.

The creature gave out a huge howl, and charged straight towards Ayesha, with its horns aimed at her body. Straight away Lara opened fire at the fiend, and shouted to Ayesha to move quickly!

Instantly and luckily, Ayesha managed to avoid the attempted attack and rolled to her left side. She too began to pull her trigger happy finger and aimed at the ogre's head. The bullets from each pistol had little effect, however, as the beast just shook them off.

RRRROOAAARRR! It belted out, and started to widen its mouth open, revealing the hideous mutated teeth that had gone and changed. It began charging at Lara, ready to use its pincer teeth to bite off her flesh. Lara jumped over the creatures head, and leaped off its body in response, still continuing to fire.

"What are we going to do Lara!" a very worried Ayesha hurriedly asked Lara, who was now again feeling the pain from earlier taking over.

"I...don't know...Ayesha..."Lara struggled to say, as she started to feel light headed, not knowing what was going to happen.

"LARA, WATCH OUT!" Ayesha shouted out loudly, but it was too late.

THUD! The beast barged Lara to one side with its massive muscular fist, knocking her completely unconscious on the floor. She did not have much time left until her death.

"NO! LARA!" Ayesha screamed out, the monster then turned and faced her again. Ayesha was now alone, and had to face the beast one to one. 'How am I going to take down something like this on my own?' she rhetorically questioned herself. Wishing that she had more firepower to take on the creature, Ayesha moved herself swiftly to Lara's side, picking up the remaining pistol and training it on the giant.

BANG! BANG! Ayesha fired as quickly as she could at the muscled face, not missing one shot at all. The mutated beast was starting to slow down, but it was still taking a bombardment of bullets to slow it down. She was wishing a miracle would happen, and that was just what indeed occurred...

BOOM! A startling explosion had blown through the tomb wall, and a male person came into view, holding a mysterious five bladed weapon.

"Who are you!" Ayesha asked the stranger, with the creature looking towards the newly arrived person.

"The name's Kurtis, I'm a friend of Ms. Crofts'. I'd heard the party from outside, and thought to come and spoil it" He announced.

"Yeah come and join in, I hope you've brought some ammunition with you" Ayesha

"Certainly have, OI! Ugly over here"! Kurtis called the creature. Angrily, the monster began to use its talon claws, and charged in Kurtis' direction. Automatically, his five bladed weapon came to live and begun to spin around the room, and violently sliced the creature's head off.

"What on earth is that weapon?"An amazed Ayesha asked Kurtis.

"This is the Chirugai, inherited through generations of the Lux Veritatis" answered Kurtis, as the Chirugai returned to him. At the same time, the creature fell to the floor, unmoving.

"KURTIS! Lara is wounded! We must get out of here now for her to survive!" Ayesha informed Kurtis very promptly.

"Okay, I'll take Lara and we'll go through my exit" Kurtis told Ayesha, and with that he picked up Lara, who only had a spare few seconds before death. Ayesha was up ahead.

"Come on Kurtis, Lara's two minutes are nearly up!" She announced, and as quick as he can, Kurtis ran to the exit with an unconscious Lara on his back. He sprinted through the man-hole alongside with Ayesha and both jumped out from the tomb walls, as it began to crumble.

"WHOO HOO!"

_The Next Day..._

"KURTIS! AYESHA!" Lara surprisingly awoke from her sleep, seeing both at the hospital bedside.

"Lara! Are you okay?" A caring Ayesha asked her friend, hugging her tightly with the sentence too.

"Yes, I'm fine thanks. What happened after I got knocked out, and what's Kurtis doing here? Lara asked the two.

"Well, just after you gone out cold, I was about to face the monster by myself, but I didn't know how I was going to defeat it, and suddenly Kurtis had arrived and beheaded the creature with that Chir-thingy weapon?" explained Ayesha. Lara turned and looked deeply into Kurtis' eyes.

"But how did you know we were there?" Lara questioned Kurtis.

"Ah-Ha, my little secret Lara" Kurtis responded, winking at her with a cheeky smile.

**The End**


End file.
